Abstract
Heritage languages are declining in Indonesia and Sarawak. They need conservation due to their situations as endemic languages. Their decline could be attributed to the fact that they often do not possess significant roles in the public domains. As a result, their speakers see little rewards or prestige for maintaining them. In Indonesian and Malaysian constitutions there is a spirit for protecting heritage languages. However, their executions, through national laws, might not have provided adequate protection for the heritage languages. As heritage languages keep declining, a policy revision needs to be given consideration. A heritage language may better survive if it has some functions in the public domains. Thus, to conserve the heritage languages, there is a need for the revision of language policy, so that these languages may have roles in the public domains, with varying scope, depending on their size. Large regional languages may be given maximum roles in the public domains, while smaller regional languages may be given smaller roles. Language conservation areas could be developed, where heritage languages serve as co-official languages, besides the national language. These areas may range from a district to a province or a state.
References
Abdullah, I. (1999). Pendahuluan: Bahasa daerah menjelang abad ke-21 [Introduction: The heritage languages on the eve of the 21st century]. In I. Abdullah (Ed.), Bahasa Nusantara: Posisi dan penggunaannya menjelang abad ke 21 [The Nusantara languages: Their positions and uses on the eve of 21st century] (pp. 1-31). Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Pustaka Pelajar.
Albury, J. A., & Aye, K. K. (2016). Malaysia's national language policy in international theoretical context, Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1), 71-84. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304621880_Malaysia%27s_National_Language_Policy_in_International_Theoretical_Context
https://doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol1iss1pp71-84
Alamsyah, T., Taib, R., Azwardi, & Idham, M. (2011). Pemilihan bahasa Indonesia sebagai bahasa pertama dalam keluarga masyarakat Aceh penutur bahasa Aceh di Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. [The choice of Indonesian as the children's first language in the Acehnese families who comprise Acehnese native speakers in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam] Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Melayu [Malay Language Education Journal (MyLEJ)] 1, 31-44. http://journalarticle.ukm.my/3181/1/31-44_Artikel-3_Teuku_Alamsyah_et_al.pdf
Barrena, A., Idiazabal, I., Juaristi, P, Junyent, C., Ortega, P., & Uranga, B. (2006). The world languages review: Some data. In D. Cunningham, D. E. Ingram, & K. Sumbuk (Eds.), Language diversity in the Pacific: Endangerment and survival (pp. 15-23). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
https://doi.org/10.21832/9781853598685-005
Brenzinger, M. (1997). Language contact and language displacement. In F. Coulmas (Ed.), The handbook of sociolinguistics (pp. 273-284). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Colluzzi, P., Riget, P.N., & Wang, X. (2013). Language vitality among the Bidayuh of Sarawak (East Malaysia). Oceanic Linguistics, 52(2), 375-395.
https://doi.org/10.1353/ol.2013.0019
Cooper, R. L. (1989). Language planning and social change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, D. (2000). Language death. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139106856
Education Act Malaysia (1996). Retrieved from http://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/sites/planipolis/files/ressources/malaysia_education_act_1996.pdf
Errington, J. (1985). Language and social change in Java. Athens, OH: Ohio University.
Ethnologue. (2017). Ethnologue: Languages of the world. Retrieved from http://www.ethnologue.com/country/ID/languages
Federal Constitution (2010). Retrieved from http://www.agc.gov.my/agcportal/uploads/files/Publications/FC/Federal%20Consti%20(BI%20text).pdf
Fishman, J. A. (1991). Reversing language shift: Theoretical and empirical foundations of assistance to threatened languages. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Groff, C. (2004). Status and acquisition planning and linguistic minorities in India. Paper presented at the Language development, language revitalization and multilingual education in minority communities in Asia, Bangkok, Thailand. Retrieved from http://www.sil.org/asia/ldc/parallel_papers/cynthia_groff.pdf
Gunarwan, A. (2001). The unstable state of the Indonesian-Javanese bilingualism: Evidence from language use in the home domain. Paper presented at the II Simposio Internacional Bilinguismo [II International Symposium on Bilingualism], Vigo, Spain. Retrieved from http://webs.uvigo.es/ssl/actas2002/04/08.%20Asim%20Gunarwan.pdf
Karunan, V.P. (2016). Malaysia: Language, education, and social cohesion. Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Language and Education: Sustainable Development through Multilingual Education, Bangkok, Thailand. Retrieved from http://www.lc.mahidol.ac.th/mleconf/2016/Documents/PresentedFiles/Parall
el%20VI/T03E/T03E-2-Victor_P_Karunan.pdf
Kloss, H. H. (1969). Research possibilities on group bilingualism. Quebec, Canada: International Centre for Research on Bilingualism.
Kurniasih, Y. K. (2005). Gender, class and language preference: A case study in Yogyakarta. Paper presented at the 2005 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society, Monash University,
Melbourne, Australia.
Mayor, F., & Binde, J. (2001). The world ahead: Our future in the making. Dhaka, Bangladesh: UPL.
Muhlhauser, P. (1996). Linguistic ecology: Language change and linguistic imperialism in the Pacific region. London, UK: Routledge.
Mohamed, N., & Hashim, N. H. (2012). Language vitality of the Sihan community in Sarawak, Malaysia. Kemanusiaan 19(1), 59-86.
Paulston, C. B. (1994). Linguistic minorities in multilingual settings: Implications for language policies. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.
https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.4
Shaeffer, S. (2004). Language development and language revitalization: An educational imperative in Asia. Paper presented at the Language development, Language Revitalization and Multilingual Education in Minority Communities in Asia, Bangkok, Thailand. Retrieved from
Subroto, D. E., Dwirahardjo, M., & Setiawan, B. (2008). Endangered krama and krama inggil varieties of the Javanese language. Linguistik Indonesia 26(1), 89-96. Retrieved from http://www.linguistikindonesia.org/images/files/EndangeredKramaandKramaInggil.pdf
Suwarno, B. (2015). Indonesian language policy and the views of Javanese language teachers in Yogyakarta: Implications for action (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Curtin University, Australia.
Ting, S. (2012). Variable impact of Malaysia's national language planning on non-Malay speakers in Sarawak. Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada, 12(2), 381-403.
https://doi.org/10.1590/S1984-63982012000200008
Ting, S., & Ling, T. (2013). Language use and sustainability status of indigenous languages in Sarawak, Malaysia. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 34(1), 77-93.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2012.706301
Ting, S., & Campbell, Y. M. (2017). The role of Indigenous languages in schools: The case of Sarawak. In M. Samuel, M. Y. Tee, & L. P. Symaco (Eds.), Education in Malaysia: Developments and challenges (pp. 119-136). Singapore, Singapore: Springer.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4427-4_8
Tollefson, J. W. (1991). Planning language, planning inequality: Language policy in the community. London, UK: Longman.
Valdez, G. (2005). Bilingualism, heritage language learners, and SLA research: Opportunities lost or seized? The Modern Language Journal, 89(3), 410-426.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2005.00314.x
Yadnya, I. B. P. (2003). Revitalisasi bahasa daerah (Bali) di tengah persaingan Bahasa nasional, daerah, dan asing untuk memperkukuh ketahanan budaya [The Revitalization of heritage language (Balinese) in the competition among national, heritage, and foreign languages to strengthen cultural resilience]. Paper presented at the Kongres Bahasa Indonesia VIII [The 8th Indonesian
Language Congress], Jakarta, Indonesia. Retrieved from http://staff.unud.ac.id/~putrayadnya/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/paperkongres.pdf
Undang-Undang Dasar 1945 [The 1945 Constitution]. (2002). Retrieved from http://jdih.pom.go.id/uud1945.pdf
Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 20 Tahun 2003 tentang Sistem Pendidikan Nasional [The Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 20 Year 2003 on the National Education System]. (2003). Retrieved from http://kelembagaan.ristekdikti.go.id/wpcontent/uploads/2016/08/UU_no_20_th_2003.pdf
Copyright Transfer Statement for Journal
1) In signing this statement, the author(s) grant UNIMAS Publisher an exclusive license to publish their original research papers. The author(s) also grant UNIMAS Publisher permission to reproduce, recreate, translate, extract or summarize, and to distribute and display in any forms, formats, and media. The author(s) can reuse their papers in their future printed work without first requiring permission from UNIMAS Publisher, provided that the author(s) acknowledge and reference publication in the Journal.
2) For open access articles, the author(s) agree that their articles published under UNIMAS Publisher are distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, for non-commercial purposes, provided the original work of the author(s) is properly cited.
3) For subscription articles, the author(s) agree that UNIMAS Publisher holds copyright, or an exclusive license to publish. Readers or users may view, download, print, and copy the content, for academic purposes, subject to the following conditions of use: (a) any reuse of materials is subject to permission from UNIMAS Publisher; (b) archived materials may only be used for academic research; (c) archived materials may not be used for commercial purposes, which include but not limited to monetary compensation by means of sale, resale, license, transfer of copyright, loan, etc.; and (d) archived materials may not be re-published in any part, either in print or online.
4) The author(s) is/are responsible to ensure his or her or their submitted work is original and does not infringe any existing copyright, trademark, patent, statutory right, or propriety right of others. Corresponding author(s) has (have) obtained permission from all co-authors prior to submission to the journal. Upon submission of the manuscript, the author(s) agree that no similar work has been or will be submitted or published elsewhere in any language. If submitted manuscript includes materials from others, the authors have obtained the permission from the copyright owners.
5) In signing this statement, the author(s) declare(s) that the researches in which they have conducted are in compliance with the current laws of the respective country and UNIMAS Journal Publication Ethics Policy. Any experimentation or research involving human or the use of animal samples must obtain approval from Human or Animal Ethics Committee in their respective institutions. The author(s) agree and understand that UNIMAS Publisher is not responsible for any compensational claims or failure caused by the author(s) in fulfilling the above-mentioned requirements. The author(s) must accept the responsibility for releasing their materials upon request by Chief Editor or UNIMAS Publisher.
6) The author(s) should have participated sufficiently in the work and ensured the appropriateness of the content of the article. The author(s) should also agree that he or she has no commercial attachments (e.g. patent or license arrangement, equity interest, consultancies, etc.) that might pose any conflict of interest with the submitted manuscript. The author(s) also agree to make any relevant materials and data available upon request by the editor or UNIMAS Publisher.